Easy Like Sunday Morning: 9/16

This article is meant to be a quick recap of the news from the last week, thoughts going into each week’s games, notes on injuries, guys to put on your radar, etc. It’ll be a quick article every week because we’re all busy Sunday mornings.

News and Notes

Mychal Kendricks is back. Seattle signed the LB to a one-year deal. Kendricks is facing a prison sentence, but Seattle is facing Chicago without Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright, so they were in need.

Atlanta’s defense lost their two best players in Week 1. Keanu Neal is out for the season. They expect Deion Jones to return this year. Ricardo Allen will move from FS to SS to replace Neal, allowing Damontae Kazee to start at FS. Duke Riley will get the first crack to replace Jones at MIKE.

Injuries. Joey Bosa will miss another week. Christian Kirksey, Wagner, and Wright will all miss Week 2. Emmanuel Ogbah will also miss the game against the Saints. Josh Jones, Xavier Woods, Shaq Lawson, and Olivier Vernon will all be out.

Rookie Debuts. Fred Warner dazzled in his debut. Tremaine Edmunds put up a ton of stats while his brother didn’t put up any. Roquan Smith was on a snap count but gave a glimpse of his potential. We’ll see [/profiler]Rashaan Evans[/profiler] and Harold Landry for the first time. Finally, Oren Burks is hopeful to make his debut. We need to wait a little longer to get our first look at Vita Vea.

Tweet of the Week

This week’s tweet comes from me, taking a look at the difference DCs can make on Safeties.

When DCs move around the NFL, the #IDP community immediately jumps all over whether it's a 3-4 transitioning to a 4-3 or vice versa. But there's so much more to it than that. A hopefully short thread…

Darron Lee got a pick-six against Detroit Monday night. It was the first time since 2013 the Jets had scored a defensive TD.

On the Radar

The Cardinal’s Safeties – Budda Baker should be on a roster in all leagues, but Antoine Bethea and Tre Boston may be on the waiver wire in some leagues. The Cardinals didn’t use a nickel CB, and all three of their safeties were on the field for more than 90% of the snaps in Week 1.

Ryan Smith – The Buccaneer CB is an IDP stud when he plays. Last season, due to injuries, he started ten games. He averaged 5.7 total tackles in those games. Smith is good enough to get on the field, but opposing QBs like to pick on him, so he gets lots of tackle opportunities. Vernon Hargreaves is on IR. Brent Grimes will miss this game with a groin injury. So Smith may be starting outside opposite Carlton Davis.

Isaac Rochell – Bosa will miss Week 2 and was seen in a boot. It looks like he may miss more of the season. If you’ve got DE depth, it’s getting time to approach the Bosa roster and offer up a spare DE in a profitable trade. Rochell is a 7th Round sophomore, so he isn’t likely to become a DE1, but he played more than 90% of snaps in Week 1.

Good luck in Week 2. Hopefully, all of you win your games, unless you’re playing me. Watch for my Snap Count articles midweek, and we’ll see you next Sunday.